“Some hold that God is an invention of the system and others that man came out of the thigh of Jupiter or is the son of a compassionate god who listens and knows his own. It matters little; descent can be argued over endlessly. The fact is that man is a religious being always ready for extremism and for martyrdom, and that is the drama: he lives not on his reason and his feet but on his faith.” — from the preface by Boualem Sansal